Objective: The authors examined trait hope and hopelessness as potential moderators of the association between depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior. Participants: A diverse sample of 372 college students. Methods: Depressive symptoms, hopelessness (Beck Hopelessness Scale), trait hope (Trait Hope Scale), and suicidal behaviors were assessed. Trait hope is defined as confidence in the ability to identify and attain goals, whereas hopelessness encompasses future attitudes and motivation loss. Results: In independent models, low hopelessness buffered the association between depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior for our whole sample, blacks, and whites, whereas trait hope buffered for Hispanics and whites. Examined simultaneously, hope remained a significant moderator only in whites and hopelessness only in blacks. These findings suggest that etiological and outcome correlates of hope and hopelessness may differ by ethnicity. Conclusions: These findings may have implications for development of culturally targeted interventions for college students that strive to simultaneously reduce hopelessness and bolster hopefulness.

Depression is a significant public health problem for young adults of college age, and negative life events exacerbate risk. Not all individuals who experience negative life events, however, report depressive symptoms, perhaps owing to protective characteristics. We examined one such characteristic, trait hope, a goal-oriented construct, as a potential moderator of the association between negative life events and depressive symptoms in an ethnically diverse sample of 386 college students. In support of our hypotheses, negative life events were significantly associated with greater levels of depressive symptoms, and higher levels of hope attenuated this relationship, such that those with greater hope reported fewer depressive symptoms related to potentially traumatic events. The moderating effect of hope did not differ across ethnic groups. Our findings have implications for managing the sequelae of negative life events, including depression. Cognitive–behavioural interventions tailored to help young adults identify and attain important life goals might help to overcome psychopathology associated with life stress. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Death by suicide, and suicidal behaviors, are a significant public mental health problem, and individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning (LGBTQ), may be at increased risk. Potential underlying mechanisms of this association are unknown, but may involve the impact of LGBTQ status on future orientation and mood. Our purpose was to determine the influence of sexual identity, sequentially, on cognitive and emotional functioning, and consequent relation to suicidal behavior. In a sample of 349 college students, we used serial mediation models to investigate the relation between self-identification as LGBTQ and suicidal behavior, with hope and hopelessness as first-order mediators and depression as a second order mediator. Supporting hypotheses, we found that LGBTQ status was related to less hope and greater hopelessness and, in serial fashion, to depressive symptoms and consequent suicidal behavior. Our findings may have clinical implications. Resolution of hopelessness and depression, and promotion of hopefulness, perhaps via Motivational Interviewing and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy strategies, such as goal-setting, may reduce suicidal risk in LGBTQ young adults.

We examined associations between trait hope and preparation for future care needs (PFCN) among 66 older adult primary care patients in western New York. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing PFCN (awareness, information gathering, decision-making, concrete planning, and avoidance), and the Adult Trait Hope Scale. In multivariate regressions, lower hope, particularly less agency, was associated with more awareness of needing care, whereas higher hopefulness, particularly pathways thinking, was associated with increased decision-making and concrete planning. Greater hopefulness appears to be linked to goal-directed planning behaviors, although those with lower hope may actually be more aware of the need for planning. Evidence-based programming that encourages learned hopefulness may contribute to enhanced health planning and decision-making among older adult primary care patients.

Older adults have an increased risk for illness and disease, factors that can lead to functional impairment and intensify the need for reliance on supportive services. Planning for long-term care needs is a vital component of healthy aging and continued autonomy. Yet, many older adults fail to make plans in advance, perhaps due to differences in personal characteristics. The moderating effects of trait hope on the relationship between health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and preparation for future care needs (PFCN) was studied in a sample of 65 older adult primary care patients (<65 years) in western New York. Participants completed a questionnaire on 5 dimensions of PFCN (awareness of risk, information gathering, decisions about care preferences, concrete planning, and active avoidance). In addition, data were collected on five HRQoL domains (physical function, physical role function, emotional role function, social function, and bodily pain) and trait hope. Moderated multiple regression was used to test the moderator hypothesis controlling for personal characteristics. Post-hoc probing was used to further examine significant interactions. At the bivariate level, social functioning, physical functioning, and emotion-based role were inversely related to PFCN and positively related to hope. Multivariate moderation models covarying age, sex, race, education, illness burden, and functional impairment indicated that hopefulness, particularly agentic thinking or goal identification, moderated the relationship between those three HRQoL dimensions and PFCN behaviors. Among those with greater role limitations, lower hope was associated with more awareness of risk and information gathering and less concrete decision making, whereas among individuals with fewer role limitations and better social and physical functioning, higher levels of hopefulness were associated with increased decision making. These results highlight the need for health professionals to gain a better understanding of their patients'intrapersonal characteristics when discussing issues related to future care planning.